This invention relates to a device for use with a fluorescent material, such as a fluorescent dye, so that upon application of the fluorescent material to selected areas of the body, the device of the instant invention may be used to cast filtered light directed through the device upon those areas, whereby to cause the dye or other fluorescent material to fluoresce and differentiate diseased and healthy portions of the area, while also providing a mirror for the user to view those portions. Particular applications of the instant invention are in the areas of dental diagnosis and dental hygiene, such that one may selfdiagnose the oral cavity for lesions, and for foreign matter such as bacterial plaque, microcosms, tartar materia alba and the like.
As indicated in the above-referenced U.S. Pat. No. 3,309,274, an appropriate dye or disclosing material (in the form of solution, paste, powder, or the like) for use with the instant invention, contains a normally-invisible constituent that fluoresces and becomes easily visible when activated by a proper light source. The disclosures of this patent are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
In order to provide light of the proper wavelength range, the device of the instant invention incorporates a light-filtering portion in combination with a reflecting-surface portion, so that the device may be used with a high-intensity beam of light from a generally conventional light source, such as typically found in a dental operatory room, to fluoresce the disclosing dye solution or other fluorescent material, and to make readily visible to the user a sharp delineation between healthy and diseased portions of the area treated by the fluorescent material.
In some areas of the human body, when the fluorescent material is applied and properly illuminated, skin lesions and the like are differentially identified by virtue of the fact that the healthy tissues surrounding the diseased areas are caused to glow, while in other areas of the human body the diseased portions of these areas are caused to glow rather than the healthy portions. The reasons why the fluorescent materials will associate with only diseased areas in the one instance, and with only healthy areas in other cases, are not known. However, and in any event, the diseased or adulterated areas are sharply differentiated by such a fluorescent material. Through the use of the device of the instant invention, such a differentiation between healthy and diseased portions of a treated area, particularly an area of the oral cavity, may be made by the user with respect to his or her own person. The degree of fluorescence exhibited will vary with the types of fluorescent material, light source, and light filter which are employed for the purpose.
Sources of light suitable for providing the focused beam of light with which the device is to be employed range from the common incandescent and fluorescent lamps to the quartz or mercury vapor types, and include the hydrogen bulb which is filled with argon. The high-intensity examination light typically found and used in the conventional dental operatory room is a particularly suitable light source for use with the device of the instant invention. Various color filters or diffraction-type filters may be used to convert any of the various light-beam sources to the proper wavelength of light which will excite and flouresce the specific dye or other fluorescent material chosen. The wavelength range for light which will excite and fluoresce the dye or other fluorescent material will depend upon the particular fluorescent material employed, and can be readily determined from published literature sources. Besides its ability to cause excitation or fluorescence of the fluorescent disclosing solution or other fluorescent material employed, the only other requirement of the filtered light is that its wavelength not mask the fluorescent material's fluorescence with its own color. In other words, the filtered light must be capable of exciting the fluorescent material to cause it to glow, while avoiding masking that material's fluorescence. This can be accomplished by means of selective and substantial filtration of any unreactive wavelengths of light.
When selecting a suitable color filter, i.e., a filter through which will pass only light which will excite a particular fluorescent material or dye, almost any transparent of translucent substance may be used, such as, for example, the more or less flexible films made and sold by the E. I. duPont de Nemours and Company under the trademark, "MYLAR", and the rigid "PLEXIGLAS" acrylic sheets made and sold by Rohm and Haas Company. Even colored glass may be employed in certain instances. In one particular application of the device of the instant invention, a user can positively determine and treat teeth and mouth hygiene problems in the nature of plaque deposits or the like, and can brush his teeth and rinse his mouth while observing, first-hand, the results thereof.